Advertising expenditure in the first six months of this year increased by 23.6 percent to reach $3.77 billion compared to $3.05 billion for the same period last year. The Pan Arab media share, mainly satellite TV, saored 24 percent to $1.57 billion, Pan Arab Research Centre (PARC) said. According to Arabian PR managing director Walid Karanouh, based on recent industry report, Saudi Arabia is one of the major advertising and PR markets in the Gulf region. The GCC media share was $1.7 billion for newspapers and $1.6 billion for TV, he added, citing the report. The Pan Arab media share represents 41.64 percent of the total advertising expenditure in the GCC. This is followed by the UAE with $929 million, an increase of 42 percent; Saudi Arabia $550 million, a rise of 11 percent; Kuwait $337 million or 11 percent rise; Qatar rose 1 percent to $157 million; Oman jumped 69 percent to $120 million; and Bahrain inched up 2 percent to $50 million. PARC said advertising expenditure in the region, which includes Pan Arab media which is mainly satellite TV channels, reached $5.05 billion from January to June compared to $4.22 billion in 2009. The impact of the global financial and economical crisis dampened the sector's growth to 9 percent in 2009 at $9.2 billion compared to $8.9 billion in 2008. Khamis Al-Muqla, chairman of Bahrain-based Gulf Marcom Group and Worldwide Board Member of the International Advertising Association, said these figures are a good indicator that the advertising activities in GCC are recovering and steadily returning to the previous level of growth seen over the last 10 years. Should the rate continue, Al Muqla said, advertising expenditure will exceed the $10 billion barrier by end of 2010 for the first time. The Pan-Arab media share of the advertising expenditure rose to $2.86 billion representing an increase of 34 percent compared to $2.14 billion in 2009. Pan Arab media had the greatest share of the increase in GCC advertising expenditure with 57 percent of the total GCC spending. By country, Bahrain's advertising expenditure grew by 40 percent, the highest rate amongst all GCC countries, followed by Oman (12 percent), Qatar (11 percent), Saudi Arabia (9 percent), and Kuwait (8 percent). The UAE was the country to record a decrease (4 percent). Despite the drop, the UAE maintained its leadership position in terms of market share in GCC adspend at 31 percent, followed by Saudi Arabia (27 percent), Kuwait (21.7 percent), Qatar (10.2 percent), Oman (6 percent), and Bahrain (3 percent). These percentages do not include Pan Arab expenditure which is directed to key markets in the GCC, particularly Saudi Arabia. Other Arab markets also registered impressive growth with Egypt topping non-GCC countries at 36 percent followed by Lebanon (19 percent) and Jordan (9 percent). Al Muqla added that TV advertising - including Pan Arab media - grew by 39 percent to reach $3.48 and continues to lead the total GCC advertising expenditure with a market share of 57 percent. Print media was a distant second at 37 percent, with newspapers comprising 31 percent to reach $1.89 billion, an increase of 6 percent, followed by magazines with 6 percent market share and $368 million in total spend. Outdoor advertising's market share shrunk to 4 percent having decreased by 6 percent to $244 million.
